In these days of terrible interest rates, savings is not exactly encouraged.  That said, that should not prevent us from seeking the best checking account that gives you a return on your investment.  Obviously, these days your return on that investment simply is not going to be all that great, but interest rates will have to go up and if you’re in a solid interest bearing checking account today, you’ll be in great shape tomorrow.  Ordinarily, I would direct my readers toward Schwab Bank.  For those of you looking to try something different, however, there is a new player in this realm that offers a lot of attractive features.

Flagstar Direct is an online bank that offers all of the great features you’d expect from a top bank, but also has interest checking accounts that have no monthly fee and no minimum deposit.  The best part, however, is that the APR is 0.9%, a number that’s competitive even among savings accounts, let alone checking.